Murder at the Cottage | Sky

The Fennelly report makes it sound like small amounts of cash, clothes, tobacco etc. are pretty common things to give informants and it says there is no indication of any misconduct around this.

Practically every report, commission or tribunal criticises but stops short of saying laws were broken or illegal acts committed. The people producing the report are instilled there for that very reason. Look at the mother and baby homes commission, 800 dead babies bodies were found in a sewage tank and still the report did nothing to bring justice, in fact it was the exact opposite. Moriarty Tribunal another example.

Bailey was about 40 years old I think at the time of the murder, so is it conceivable that a 40 year old man got up in the dead of night on December 23rd and walked 2 or 3KM to Sophie's house when it's absolutely freezing cold out. Its late December and on the coast of Cork, I'd imagine temperatures are below freezing.

Kealfeada Bridge where there was also a potential spotting is also about 2KM in the opposite direction of Baileys House.

So is it believable that Bailey walked 2 or 3KM to Sophie's House, killed her and then walked about 2KM in the opposite direction.

Or maybe he turned up at her house freezing cold and angered not to be let in?

Anyone who believes gardai corruption or cover ups cant or didnt happen should look at the story of the murder of Fr Niall Molloy - there was a documentary on this on RTE last night and part 2 is on next week. Its not inconceivable that a cover up didnt happen in the case of Sophies murder either.

For me the most reasonable scenario if Bailey is guilty is that they had briefly met and talked a couple of times previously, she had given him an open-ended invitation to call over for a cup of tea to talk about poetry and he, possibly believing stereotypes about 'French birds' read way too much into it...

I haven't followed the story particularly closely but I'm not aware of any other specific suspect with the weight of circumstantial evidence against him that there is against Bailey and

Though the circumstances of the crime suggest someone with a personal/sexual motivation...

Thats because Gardai refused to look at people who weren't Bailey, rather than there being no other suspects.

Plenty of people gave statements and info regarding other potential suspects but because the info wasn't about Bailey the guards chose not to follow up.

A travel agent in Galway that Sophie had previously booked with said that on the morning her body was found a French man came into the travel agents and looked for the first flight back to France, he also looked for the number of B&Bs in West Cork as he had left early and not paid. Gardai never looked anymore into it and never took a statement from the travel agents, maybe years later they did but I'm not sure.

I wonder if anyone has ever asked owners of B&Bs in West Cork at that time period if that happened.

Some will pass it off as Gardai being lazy or incompetent, others might look at it that gardai were suppressing info and statements that didn't implicate Ian Bailey..

I think the travel agent im talking about was Maurice Sweeney or McSweeney or thereabouts if anyone wants to read about it.

IMO if its not Bailey either her husband had her killed or an ex-lover perhaps. People will argue that a hitman wouldn't have killed her so brutally but if he was travelling from France it would have been very hard for the person to bring a gun or knife.

Her husband married again within a year or so after the murder to a woman he was already having an affair with I believe, it would be interesting to see if Sophie would have been entitled to half her husbands money in a divorce. Keep in mind her husband was a rich, famous movie producer in France.

There has been some speculation that Sophie also had a big life insurance premium but I don't think that's ever been mentioned anywhere official.

Theres also reason to believe Sophie knew she was under threat and that's why she went to Ireland in the first place. She had practically begged several friends and family to travel with her but as it was so close to Christmas nobody had the time. A poetry book was also left open on a eerie poem, I believe about a woman dying or being killed in a foreign country.

Sophie was also known to have had several affairs, and there's some evidence or testimony to point out that someone was with her on that trip. She stopped in a shop or petrol station on her way from the airport to Cork and an attendant said she was with a man I think.

Marie Farrell also claims that while Sophie was in her shop a sallow skinned foreign man was waiting across the road from her and followed Sophie once she left the shop. Marie Farrell has also recently ID'd this person after Jim Sheridan showed her several photos of men from France who were close to Sophie or associates of Sophies husband. Of course Farrells reliability comes down to a matter of personal opinion.

Could it be that Sophie told her lover to keep 10 or 20 paces behind her so the locals wouldn't see them together, with locals knowing this man wasn't her husband? Would this also stack up with a man leaving a B&B without paying on the morning of her body being discovered...

Perhaps Sophie waited until the cover of darkness for her lover to turn up at the cottage so locals wouldn't see.

I'm just theorising obviously, im still not personally decided one way or the other whether it was Bailey or not. All I know is under law there is presently nowhere near enough evidence to send a man to prison for life IMO.

I should add there's also the theory that she was ratting on Alfie Lyons her neighbour and Bill Fuller (I think) regarding their drug dealing or growing operation.

Some people have also speculated that Alfie Lyons could have perhaps had a previous life working in American intelligence. Brought about by the fact Lyons could speak several languages including Russian.

Were guards or government shipping drugs into Ireland via the coast of West Cork? People might think this is farfetched but there's a long history of governments supplying drugs to its citizens, just look at Crack Cocaine in America, weed also.

Was Alfie Lyons in cahoots with guards or government shipping drugs into the country via West Cork. Was Sophie opening her mouth about Alfies drug dealing or going to guards?

With the way the case was handled and the amount of garda corruption, is it beyond the realms of imagination that Sophie went to the guards about Alfies drugs and the guards told Alfie about this?

Again, im just theorising and trying to answer your question as best as possible. I'm undecided on what actually happened to her.

What makes you think Ian Bailey is any more reliable than Marie Farrell?

I think they met around 1989 or 1990 but can't be sure. Three women made statements that IB made unwanted advances towards them while he was with Jules.

Collette Gallagher said she stayed at the studio one night and while she was asleep IB got into bed beside her and started rubbing her leg. She said Jules Thomas then came into the room and she and IB had an argument, Collette protested her innocence. She grabbed her clothes and ran up to the main house to get dressed. She claims that JT then came back to the house and said something about IB doing worse things to her and lifted her skirt and shirt to show bruises along her leg and side. The DPP thought this was just having a bit of craic.

Another woman said she was at a party and IB grabbed her, lifted her up and asked her to wrap her legs around him. When she asked him to stop he let her go. The DPP thought this was just having a bit of craic too.

One of Jules' daughters claimed that when she was 18 IB made a pass at her while driving one day.